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In a drive to work more closely together on pressing fundamental rights challenges, the Council of Europe, the European Network of Equality Bodies, the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions and FRA have established four thematic cooperation platforms in 2014.

The two murders that took place in Copenhagen on 14-15 February, one at an event on freedom of speech and the second at the city’s central synagogue, violate not only the right to life but also a number of other fundamental rights, including the right to human dignity (Article 1 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU), freedom of thought, conscience and religion (Article 10), and freedom of expression and information (Article 11).

The attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices on 7 January 2015 that left 12 people dead framed the initial debate on the necessity of protecting the right to freedom of expression. However, the subsequent murder of four Jewish people in a kosher supermarket and the deadly shooting of a police officer in Paris, as well as the suspected attack on police in Belgium added other dimensions to political, media and civilian responses across the EU.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day, on 27 January, is a chance to honour the memory of the victims of the Holocaust and to remind us of the persistent problem of antisemitism. This year FRA will join senior politicians, diplomats, global figures and experts from around the world to discuss how to deal more effectively with antisemitism, racism and xenophobia in Europe as they mark 70 years to the day on which the concentration camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated.

The terrorists killed 17 people, they attacked the free press and basic human rights. They increased fear in the Jewish and their own Muslim community and injected anxiety into the general population. In light of this attack the continued collaboration between FRA, the Council of Europe and other human rights actors is particularly important.”

Following the attacks on the editorial offices of French magazine Charlie Hebdo, and the subsequent hostage crises in Paris, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, on behalf of the Network of European Union Agencies, expresses its horror at the crime and its sympathy with all those close to the victims.

FRA gave a presentation on practical cooperation between public authorities and civil society, and how this can fill the gap of underreporting of victims of hate crime at an international conference on 27 November in Madrid.